Press Release

Novell Offers 50 Free GroupWise Licenses To NetWare Customers Running Microsoft Mail

Easy Migration To The Industry's Most Scalable Messaging System Challenges Microsoft Exchange

NETWORLD+INTEROP, Las Vegas, -- April 2, 1996 -- Novell, Inc. today announced a GroupWise promotion targeted at NetWare customers running Microsoft Mail. As MS Mail users look to upgrade to an advanced messaging system, Novell will offer up to 50 GroupWise 4.l client licenses, a Message Server NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) and the Microsoft Mail Migration Utility-free. The promotion will last for 60 days following the shipment of Microsoft Exchange.

The GroupWise Universal In Box provides a common store for all incoming messages, allowing users to handle calendaring, scheduling, routing and tasks as well as receive faxes, Internet mail and voice mail messages in one place -- whether it is via the LAN, Internet, the telephone or a remote location. A common store for messaging and appointments is not offered with Exchange or MS Mail, which rely on secondary products such as Schedule Plus to handle scheduling and calendaring.

"Microsoft customers, particularly MS Mail customers, have been waiting a long time for Exchange to ship. With this GroupWise promotion, we are giving our NetWare customers who use MS Mail the opportunity to upgrade to our proven advanced messaging system," said Stewart Nelson, vice president and general manager of Novell's GroupWare Division. "NetWare customers considering a move from MS Mail to Exchange must install NT servers solely for the purpose of using Exchange; this will result in substantially increased administrative overhead."--One GroupWise user, Joe AuBuchon, program manager, information systems at McDonnell Douglas said, "We considered Microsoft Exchange previous to choosing GroupWise 4.1 and found it did not meet our various enterprise requirements. Therefore, we are committed to GroupWise and future GroupWise next-generation solutions."

"As companies migrate from file-sharing mail to the next generation of client/server mail products, they have the opportunity to reassess which vendor's strategy best suits their needs," said David Marshak, senior vice president of The Seybold Group, a Boston-based market research firm. "GroupWise 4.1 and the forthcoming GroupWise XTD could be a logical alternative for companies making this move."

Advantages Of GroupWise Over Exchange

  • The promotion further leverages three key advantages of GroupWise over Exchange: a true Universal In Box with multiple access points, tighter network administration and proven scalability of GroupWise and NetWare.
  • Tightly synchronized with NetWare, GroupWise administration is performed by the same utility program, NWAdmin, thus offering unparalleled administrative efficiencies, according to Novell. With the forthcoming GroupWise XTD, all GroupWise users, post offices, gateways, and servers exist in NetWare Directory Services as objects in the Directory Tree. This allows all administration and management to be done through this single point of administration. Finally, GroupWise XTD management will be integrated with NetWare's ManageWise tool, allowing administrators to leverage integrated management functionality across the enterprise.
  • In contrast, Exchange and Windows NT have separate administration programs which require NetWare customers to administer their Exchange system, the NT domain directory and NetWare separately.
  • Furthermore, GroupWise's support for multiple server platforms means it is completely scalable and can be easily integrated into heterogeneous environments, thus allowing organizations to maintain their current investment in equipment and operating systems. Supported server platforms include NetWare 4.X and 3.X, OS/2 and UNIX, with additional support planned for Windows NT with GroupWise XTD. And, GroupWise natively supports a total of 16 gateways for seamless integration between the GroupWise system and foreign systems. In contrast, Exchange supports only three gateways: X.400, SMTP and MS Mail.

GroupWise XTD Offers Additional Advantages

"The first-generation, unproven Exchange will not offer advanced messaging functionality, such as document management integration and workflow, both of which will be tightly integrated with GroupWise XTD," added Nelson.

For more information about this promotion, customers can call (800) 258-5408 or visit Novell's home page at http:\\www.novell.com.

Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL) is the world's leading network software provider. Novell software provides infrastructure for a networked world, enabling our customers to connect with other people and the information they need, anytime and anyplace. Novell partners with other technology and market leaders to help customers make networks a part of their everyday lives.

Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks and GroupWise is a trademark of Novell, Inc. All other brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Press Contacts:
Brian Chapman
Novell, Inc.
(801) 228#5126
Internet: bchapman@novell.com

Gina Trausch
Brodeur& Partners
(617) 622#2839
Internet: gtrausch@brodeur.com